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Pricewise, my Mustang under Ford X plan was ~$25,600. Only options I didn't get was an automatic trans and the Shaker 1000 stereo (Shaker 500 is mighty fine for me). My GMS/GMO price would have been ~$30,200 for an '05 GTO 6M. That's a hefty $4,600 swing.
If you want to compare MSRP's ....My Mustang's was $28,050. GTO M6 was $33,690.....again, a hefty swing of $5,640 in the Mustang's favor.
Styling has been debated to death. I really like the Mustang's. At best, I was lukewarm about the GTO.
Steering of the Mustang was much more to my liking (being more responsive) than the GTO's. GTO brakes felt spongy to me. Shifter in the Mustang was very positive whereas the GTO's was rubbery by comparison.
Having driven both, the IRS in the GTO doesn't offer any better handling or ride quality than the solid rear of the Mustang. Ford did a wonderful job in this dept....one of the best ride/handling tradeoffs I've experienced.
Back seat wasn't an issue to me. Both are cramped, but the GTO, did indeed have a bit more room in the back.
Sales numbers for the GTO, no matter which way you slice it, have been very disappointing. True to the point that there will be no more for '07 and maybe not even an '06 MY GTO.
As has been said before, saying that the GTO's interior is the best GM offers, is not really a high complement given GM's design of interior's in the past.
I find the Mustang's interior to be every bit as nice, maybe nicer (with the aluminum IUP package) and more ergonomic that the GTO's.
Again, not flaming....just pointing out my reasoning between the two and why I chose the Mustang over the GTO. The fact that the GTO was even on my shopping list says I was interested in the car.
Why is it that whenever some makes a comment that doesn't flatter or put the GTO on a pedestal, GTO buyers get upset? I mean, myself, akirby, graphic and others just state why they like and/or bought the Mustang over the GTO, made and gave good informative info, and yet they are jumped on by yourself and other GTO owners/buyers?
Why always bring up the horsepower / rear-end thing? Yet there's never talk about the following: 5-spd versus 4-spd auto; GTO gas-guzzler; Mustangs have 300hp on unleaded versus GTO 400hp on premium; limited selection of options for GTO; confusing and somewhat non-existent marketing for GTO. It seems the horsepower, IRS is really the only thing that comes up, that and the interior. Yeah, the interior is good and an improvement, but it really doesn't represent GMNA interiors and what we've been getting in the past and continue to get. Yes, GMNA has made improvements, but v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y.
Yes, there is only capacity for 18K per year, but didn't GM reduce the number to only 12k per year. Not sure why this number was reduced but betcha it was due to the poor response to the car.
Don't really agree with the "got-to-have-it" factor. Let's just be honest, Ford listened to the buyers and current owners, but more importantly, the designers and engineers nailed it! And not only with the car, but the marketing, the packages, options, price, the whole nine. GM didn't do that with this US GTO-Monaro. But if you want to include the "got-to-have-it", what happened with the GTO, the first RWD coupe since what 1987 - 1988? Was it all the fault of the dealers, with their crazy mark-ups, snobby attitudes and the like?; was it GM's pricing of the car, lack of market presentation, was it the introduction time? As stated previously by myself and others, the car is decent. Myself and others knew of the car years ago, but it was still good and something we wanted, not as a GTO, maybe a hot Chevy (could this be the root cause of it failing?). GM had a good car, they just half-assed it and blew it.
In my case I would think of something that looks like the 2005 Mustang. That is the reason why I think people are so excited about the styling. It isn't really retro. The PT Cruiser is retro.
What the Mustang is, is taking what everyone knows a Mustang should look like and translating it into a car for the 21st century.
What GM did with the GTO is they took a look at current Pontiacs and translated that into a 2 door coupe. Hence you have something that looks like a Pontiac Sunfire. Ford would have gotten the same look if they had styled the Mustang along the lines of the Focus or heaven forbid the Taurus.
And as for peeople who think the GTO is a better car. Well price wise the GTO isn't really in the Mustang GT class. The GTO would be more in the same class as the 2007 Ford Shelby Mustang GT 500 Cobra. With a 450 hp from the Ford GT so :P
But then its not really going to matter because by 2007, the hottest car in the Pontiac lineup will be, what? a 3.8L pushrod powered G6? With 5k in rebates?
It took Ford 14 months to sell 1 million Mustangs, It took GM about 40 years to sell 1 million Corvettes.
GM is finished, its just a matter of time.
Mark
Mark
http://media.ford.com/products/presskit_display.cfm?vehicle_id=1269&press_subsection_id=42- 1&make_id=92
Note to Host: I think this link is available to the general public. If it is not, kindly delete this post and accept my apologies.
Mark
Not sure if that answers your question or not.
Mark
http://media.ford.com/products/presskit_print.cfm?vehicle_id=1269
Mark
GM sold 16k GTO's in 2004 and they reduced production to only 12k GTO's for 2005. I agree, probably lack of sales and no promotions or advertising!
You can use regular 87 octane gas in the GTO with no problems, you will loose a little performance. Part of the reason for Premium for best perf. in GTOis because it has a higher compression ratio 10.9 vs Mustangs 9.8.
My dealer was very nice to me, no hidden markups, got the car for about $30k even. For me, the insurance was $100 more a year for the Mustang, based on the quotes/prices from my insurance company! I have good driving record. The joke is that my 2001 Infiniti I30t is the same or higher then the GTO insurance wise? Strange!!
As I said they are both good cars! I don't think the GTO is half assed in anyway.
NO, the GTO already existed as the 2 door coupe Holden Monaro in Austrailia since it's LATE 2001 introduction. They took that car and put a Pontiac front end on it, made it left hand drive and changed some things so it would meet US crash protection standards & emmissions, otherwise it is pretty much the same Austrailian designed car. The only thing that looks different on the Holden is the front end and part of the backend.
In normal driving you won't see a dif between IRS or solid rear, but in harder driving or on uneven pavement, or HARD cornering, the IRS is superior to the solid rear, that is a PROVEN FACT!! Why doesn't the vette or 350z etc use solid rear? SOlid rear is BAD in car that costs $25k to $30k. cost cutting by ford. Either way, they are both good cars!
Too clarify:
They certainly IMPORTED 16k of the 2004 model, but they sold no where close to 16K during the '04 calender year. From what I understand, there are STILL many, many '04 models on the lots (in April of '05?). Which is why they imported 25% fewer for '05, despite the improvements made to the car.
The point is, the low sales numbers are NOT due to the limited supply of cars. The low sales numbers are due to low demand. The reasons for the low demand may be debated (and there are, IMO, several reasons), but the limited supply of cars should not be construed as a factor.
Ordinarily, I'd agree with you. But the solid rear-end didn't seem to be much of a hindrence in the first Grand Am Cup race of the year where Mustangs finished 1-2 against their compeitition, all of whom were running IRS.
In concept, the IRS should be superior. But sometimes there is a difference between concept and execution. Sometimes IRS is used simply because of the 'old school' stigma associated with solid rear-ends.
Who could also argue that for $30+ who shouldn't have to put up with the 'old school' technology of a pushrod engine. Yet GM does pushrods engines VERY well. So, if you can accept pushrod technology, why not solid rear-ends?
Show me one negative thing that's been said about the Mustang rear suspension in any reviews or test drives. Quite the opposite in fact. One magazine said the drivers actually looked under the rear of the car to make sure nobody slipped them an IRS equipped ringer. It's that good.
sengines VERY well. So, if you can accept pushrod technology, why not solid rear-ends?touche'
Also, gunit, have you read any of the reviews on the Mustang? It's been printed several times that the solid rear of the new Mustang was designed so well that, when comparing its performance to an IRS setup, the difference was so miniscule that it didn't justify the cost of adding an IRS. And, as has been stated, with the 1-2 finish in its first Grand Am race, the solid rear works well enough to defeat IRS sprung M3s, Porsches, and their ilk.
I can see the argument from some that those cars are on older platforms, yadda, yadda... But if IRS is supposed to be so superior, that should be a moot point. Right?
However, as rorr...tayl0rd and others have said, the whole IRS vs solid axle of the Mustang has proven to be a moot point. Ford did a wonderful job with the solid axle design in the Mustang that the extra complexity and cost associated with the IRS isn't needed, nor wanted. Truth is, the solid axle layout is so good, they will continue to use it for the upcoming Shelby model coming out in about 18 months.
As was pointed out, '04 GTO had production capacity of 16,000 units. The last production figures I saw was that "only" around 14,000 were produced, however. And about 500 of that "lower" 14,000 production run are still sitting on dealer's lots....even with the heavy rebating GM has done on them. About 1,300 GTOs were sold last month, but 30% of them were still '04 models (or about 400 units). So, even the 12,000 GM is scheduled to produce of the '05 models, they've sold something like 2,000-2,500 of them. '05 MY will end in August or thereabouts. That means GM has to sell 9,500-10,000 '05 GTOs in the next 5 months....that's an average of about 2,000/mo.
You can see, if sales history is any indication, not even that will happen....even with the reduced '05 GTO production schedule.
Only reason I bring this up is that it was part of my decision making process when I was looking at both cars (the Mustang and the GTO).
Truth is, even if you had decided to get a Mustang GT today, you probably would have to wait for the '06 MY to get one.....and Spring has just hit. I'd bet by the time summer rolls around, Mustang GT's will be even more scarce than they are right now. Since dealers are trying to already push their customers to '06 Mustangs, then sales for Mustangs (for the '05s and at least the beginning runs of '06 models) will continue to be very strong.
Just doing "like for like" standard equipment between the Mustang GT and similar equipment levels for the GTO nets you a Mustang GT MSRP (premium with IUP) of about $26.6K. GMS/GMO price of am '05 GTO is $30,200. That's still a $3,600 swing in the Mustang's favor.
No matter which way I did the numbers in my purchase decision, it always came out in the Mustang's favor.
My guess is, as hard as GM is trying to stay away from rebates on all their cars (not just the GTO), I don't see any way around it for them to move GTOs when push comes to shove.
Bottom line, if you like your GTO, that's all that matters.
IIRC John Coletti has retired.
2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
http://www.autoweek.com/news.cms?newsId=102118
" But dealers and customers shouldn't expect the mix to swing wildly to the GT, which shares its 4.6-liter engine with other Ford vehicles - notably the F-150 pickup. The automaker isn't likely to sacrifice higher-margin F-150 sales for more Mustang GTs.
The Romeo, Mich., engine plant, which makes the V-8, is not currently on overtime."
The way I read it, the availability of the GT is tied to engine production at the Romeo plant......which isn't currently running at capacity? :confuse:
For me, I'd never consider the GTO. I just cannot get used to an American badged performance car not being made in America. The former SS Impala (90's) is a car I woulda considered, but GM quit making them when I was ready to buy one. The Mustang on the other hand has USA written all over it, and looks great too. Definitely the best eye candy of any vehicle out there. The Mustang is priced well too, considering you can get the 'look' without the performance for $22,000, or fully decked out for $31,000 or so. This is why I'm considering a Stang, plus the wife has given the green light to HER future new car. Based on reviews here and the few folks I've talked to, owners are tickled to death to have one of these. I've been waiting for the end of the model year for possible financing and to read if Ford made any major boo-boo's putting it together. Other than corrected gas tank and HVAC issues it appears the car is very solid.
Guess the insurance is higher on the Mustang due to the insurance company assuming you going to drive it like you stole it all day, every day. Or the styling of the Mustang is not as subdued as the GTO, figuring the Mustang will attract more attention. Is strange though.
But we are in agreement that both cars are decent, but I really think as a whole GM blew it in terms of the public, meaning mainly the marketing approach, advertising, pricing, intros. It's almost as if they looked at what Ford did with the Mercury Marauder and unfortunately copied the exact same steps in these regards. The product was decent, the presentation bad.
Know this is off topic, but what do you think of the conspiracy crap-o-la that Edmunds and all the magazines are blatantly against GM and the GTO. Seems that a lot of the people on the GTO forum feels that the magazines, and Edmunds, are out to get them. Not sure if they're serious or not, but their whining is comical at best.
I guess you can make all kinds of assumptions about Ford wanting to keep some of the V8 production for F-150s because of their higher margins or that Ford wants to stay out of CAFE soup by selling more Mustang V6s.
Personally, I think that Mustang GTs are selling as soon as they hit the ground whether they have the IUP or not. Although most dealers have V6s in stock, they also have more V6s they have to take from Ford for every GT they sell. My dealer, if he's to be believed, said he had to take 4 V6s for every GT he sold. That seems about right. He's sold 4 GTs (one was mine) and has had a total of 18 Mustangs, in all, so far in the '05 MY. My dealer has also said that all pending orders for GTs may or may not get built. He has already got a sizeable waiting list ready to order '06s if the '05s don't get built. Matter of fact, the dealer said if all those on the '06 waiting list do follow-through on their orders (all had to submit a $500 refundable deposit), then the first 3 months of his '06 GT allotment would be sold out, too.
Bottom line, Ford can't produce enough to meet demand, regardless of the reason.....even at elevated production capacities.
As stated by you graphic and others, with only about a couple thousand '05s sold in 4 - 5? months, can 10k more be sold by September (just counting the '05s)? I don't see it w/o HEAVY discounts. Do you, or anyone else for that matter, think GM will just rebadge the unsolds as '06s, or keep going and produce an '06? And if so, how would you know that your '06 is really an '06?
Guys (and gals), again, I know this was off topic but was just curious about other thoughts on this.
I think that's ridiculous.
GTO is been a swing and a miss for GM. Reasons are as numerous as they are varied. Pick none, one or all......price, styling, marketing, handling, shifting, steering, braking, stereo, etc. as the reasons.
What's clear is, Ford will sell 160,000-180,000 Mustangs for the '05 MY. GM has struggled mightily to sell about 14,000 '04 GTOs and is struggling mightily to sell the lowered production 12,000 '05 GTOs. They've started slapping rebates on the GTOs (in fairness, GM has slapped rebates on almost everything beginning today).
It's crystal how the vast majority of the buying public have voted with their dollars who was right and who was wrong with the Mustang GT vs the GTO.
As I've stated before, it's a shame since I was looking forward to a GM vs Ford muscle car war. It's not going to happen and that's too bad.
So if the demand for the V8's is higher than expected (as you noted the dealers are practically begging Ford for more GT's), I don't understand why they haven't upped production at the Romeo plant? Parts supply problems perhaps? I'm just guessing....
I know for sure that the former Camaro/Firebird where made in Canada? I guess GM just put out an American Made sports car other than the Corvette? hehe
'
Mark
Personally, I don't know what to make of the 'conspiracy' paranoia that seem's to be running through some of the GTO faithful. It started off(?) with some semi-veiled hints that Edmunds was intentionally changing their tune re: the GTO simply because the sales numbers were flat and they might think they had egg on their face given their positive review of the '04 model. And the C&D article where the GTO won virtually every subjective performance test but lost out (big) on the "gotta have it" factor was REALLY difficult for GTO fans to swallow.
And for the life of me I don't get the fascination with 400hp in the GTO. Okay, great the '05 has 50 more hp than the '04. But it's not like the '04 sales numbers were flat because it was a slug; the thing had 350hp for crying out loud. Why do they think that the sales would turn around with even MORE power? I mean, how many people seriously considered an '04 and thought, "I dunno, seems kinda slow. Now if it only had another 50hp.....". I've yet to see a Mustang GT just happen to end up at the same red light as a GTO, so I really don't get the theoretical advantage those guys are hanging their hat on. You would have thought GM would have learned in the Mustang/Camaro wars that a hp advantage doesn't necessarily equal sales.
The GTO is a good car; however, in this class, buyers want to be NOTICED. The GTO is (at least to my eyes) virtually invisible. I've seen 4-5 cars over the last few months and everytime I see one, I think "is that a Grand Am with some kinda body kit.....oh wait, it's a GTO".
Yeah, the lack of marketing on GM's part hasn't helped, but it's not like Ford has had to run continuous commercials for the Mustang, have they......
Just IMO.....
I think what we are seeing is the strain put on manufacturing and parts ordering/production when expected demand far outstrips expected supply/production capabilities.
I'm sure Ford isn't going to complain about the problem, but they certainly should at least be putting plans in place to fix it.
I think they may be battling years upon years of cranking out cars and trucks as fast as they could and then having to rebate them afte the fact to move the inventory. They may be a tad gunshy in going back to that sort of cranking up the plant. As it stands, they've already committed to making 20,000-30,000 more Mustangs than they originally planned. Even with that, they can't meet demand.
In general, I see much less in the way of stock, on all Ford models sitting on the dealer's lots than I did even 2-3 years ago.
My dealer is medium sized. He used to have a whole back lot full of row upon row of new F-150s, Tauri, Foci, Explorers, etc sitting unsold. This year, he's got mabe a dozen F-150s, just as many 500s and Foci, few (if any) Mustangs and maybe 6-7 Escapes and as many Explorers. I've rarely seen more than two Expeditions sitting there this year and his back lot is now filled with used cars.
Not by any stretch a scientific sampling, but just an observation.
I still hanker for a good Jenson Interceptor everytime I see the Road Warrior.....
Also, by keeping a lid (albiet a fairly LARGE lid if production is in the 120-130k/year range) on production, they may be able to keep the desirability level up for more than the typical 1-2 years for a new model.
Oh well, since I'll probably be buying an RX-8 sometime next year (when availability should definitely NOT be a problem) it's all moot to me anyway.
I just need to get my '66 GT fastback back on the road to scratch my Mustang itch....
Oh well, enough of that, back to the Mustang and upcoming GT500.
Do agree with you graphic, a good Ford vs GM would have been great! Don't really see a Ford vs. Chevy thing anymore except maybe Cobalt vs. Focus or something :confuse: . Don't see Chevrolet getting a version of the Sigma, (being hinted that Buick and Pontiac may get a vehicle off a version of that platform).
Knowing that there will probably be Mach 1s, possibly Bullitts, do you think there will be a 4.6 LX or a GT350 to go along with the GT500? Wonder if Ford will do a new Bosses? Or how about a k-code, hi-po 289 again (they're so close anyway @ 281c.i. - and doesn't one of the tuner's make a 289 model)? Wonder what would a GT500KR have?
I was really hoping for a return of the 'Pony' Interior (with galloping horses across the headrest on the leather equipped models). And they could have called the upgraded gauge package the Rally Pac.
Wouldn't look for a 4.6 LX anytime soon - they can't even meet demand for GT's. No reason to offer a stripped down version.
And maybe a new Boss 302 with their cammer 5.0? Yeah, yeah, I know it's expensive but the motor in the new GT500 can't be cheap....
jae5....last article I read in MT said that with the success of the current Mustang to expect a Boss and a Bullitt. Don't know what configuration those would take. Maybe a different computer tune of the 4.6? Maybe bore and stroke the 4.6 to the legendary 5.0 moniker? Put out the 5.4 without a blower? Put a blower on the 4.6?
Cammer 5.0 would be great, but as pointed out, that's an expensive alternative.
SVT team at Ford has been revived. Those guysdo great things to cars.
In the same MT article, they said they're busy working on a new SportTrac in parallel to the Shelby. They also said to expect something north of 450 HP on the GT500, which is supposed to hit the streets almost entirely in-tact from what the showcar is.
I don't know that I'd be a customer of the Shelby GT500 if dealers do the same over-pricing as they've done on the Mustang GT. That would bring the price to 'vette levels. At $45K-$50K, the 'vette would be too tempting over the Shelby. At the projected $39K, the Shelby will be more pallatable. That said, I almost jumped into a 'vette this go round with the exception of some personal paranoia about having a fiberglass body, but hopefully, I'll get over that.
Probably more of interest to me would be some iteration of a new Boss or Bullitt. If they keep the price of them south of $30K. One thing's for certain, if this Mustang Mania continues for some time, like it looks like it will, any "special editions" will do nothing but enhance the already wildly successful '05 Mustang launch.
$39,500 for a new Ford GT motor at this place. They don't list one with an iron block and the GT500's supercharger, which is different from the GT's IIRC, but you're right, it can't be cheap.
I would think there are many factors, not just the enigine supplier, that are limiting what Ford can do to change the mix at this late date in the production year run. I would think that they are going to bump up GT production in the 06 run to some degree.
Given the current percentage(36% I think it said?) I doubt that anything more than 45% is possible with their current line configuration.
Disclaimer, I've never seen the Ford line or talked with anyone there, this is just conjecture on my part.
CAFE also has to be playing a big role in the decision.
I think this year and probably the first half of MY06 are/will be exceptional for the Mustang then things will taper off sometime next spring. At least that's what I hope as I'll be buying one in March of 07 and I don't want to have to wait for one!
Don't suppose you'd know of any Jeg's type shops in the St. Louis area?
Best I could hope for is about 4 weeks of use in the Spring and 3-4 weeks of use in the Fall.
I suppose that makes me a coupe person. You can't discount the performance of the GT. It's simply intoxicating. Have never driven a V6, though. So, don't know how they would compare (other than the GT being a scorcher on the road and having better handling). The V6 would probably ride better, though (not that the ride of the GT is bad in any way).
You are right, GM never really advertised the GTO, same thing with Mercury and the Marauder. Almost like they wanted the car to fail sales wise.
Insurance is strange because my 2005 GTO is almost the same price as my 2001 I30t for insurance, LOL! I30t has 227hp, GTO 400hp, LOL!
Not sure on the conspiracy, but I will say that those auto mags are biased against American cars. They are all in love with Honda & Toyota, they can do no wrong, LOL! They don't tell you about the Toyota V6 sludge problem from late '90's to early '00's or Honda's failing auto trannies on their V6 vehicles. Both companies extended their warranty on engines/trannys in those yrs to 7yr 100k. No car mfg is perfect. But these mags would have you believe otherwise. Oh well. I make my own decisions when I buy a car, not based on those auto mags.
At the time, my previous car had been totalled. I was in need of a car. I was weighing my need for a car immediately against getting the car I thought was better from my stand point. I love sports cars. Have owned many. The mere fact that the GTO was my 2nd choice (or even on my shopping list) can be considered praise.
That said, the reason I waited two months to get the Mustang as opposed to buying any of the readily available GTOs locally says only that I felt the Mustang was more to my liking than the GTO.
As I've said previously, I thought the shifter, brakes, handling, steering were better in the Mustang compared to the GTO. Performance between the two were almost identical (if 0-60 is your only criteria)....within a tenth or two of each other. The trunk is much more useable in the Mustang, too.
Much has been said regarding the IRS in the GTO vs the solid rear axle in the Mustang. I found that to be a total non-issue, however. Ford did a whale of a job with massaging the solid rear axle to the point that there were no ride or handling advantages with the more complex IRS in the GTO.
Personally, I think the optional aluminum interior is drop dead gorgeous in the Mustang...particularly with my red/black interior. Build quality of the Mustang is equal to any car I've seen in the same price range.
In the GTOs favor, I liked the seats a little better. The back seat has a little more room (but, that wasn't a big issue to me since it's still hard to get back there in either car). While true, the GTO's interior is one of the better ones the General has ever offered, GM's cars have never been known for nice interiors. So, the bar set for GM interior design was set low to begin with.
From a sales perspective, the GTO has indeed been a dud for GM. In the first 4 months of '05, Pontiac as sold about 3,200 GTOs, IIRC. 1/3 of those (around 1,000 of them) have been left over '04s (with huge incentives). GM wanted to sell 18,000 '04s. They only produced around 16,000 of them since they weren't selling...and they still have some of those still lingering on the lots. Then GM reduced production goals to 12,000 for the '05s. Take away the leftover '04 sales from the '05 total and Pontiac has sold about 2,200 '05 GTOs in the first 4 months of this year. For all intents and purposes, the current model year will be over in Sept, when the '06s will start hitting showrooms. That means that in the next 5 months, Pontiac has to sell 9,000 + GTOs to hit even their reduced 12,000 unit production plans. The figures don't look good from that perspective. Add to that, GM has at least delayed, if not cancelled the Zeta platform (which '07 GTOs were going to be based on) and the future isn't good for GTOs. Since '04s were slow sellers, and they were rebated heavily to begin with, doesn't make for much confidence that these cars will do well on the used market (thinking resale, here).
It's a hard sell for any used '04 with even moderately decent resale value when new '04s still sitting on the dealer's lots are selling at invoice less around $5K-$6K GM incentives slapped on them. So, if new '04s will sell for around $24K-$25K (with incentives), it's reasonable (maybe hopeful) to think that a used '04 could sell for high teens. That's a whopping $12K-$14K depriciation one model year to the next from MSRP. Based on that history, the '05 resale probably won't be much better (if better, at all).
That entered into my thinking, too.
Don't know about the "gotta have it" factor with the Mustang. I don't "gotta have" any car (OK, maybe the upcoming Bugatti). But, considering Mustang GTs and convertibles are selling at the dealers for MSRP or above, and that many dealers are already dipping into their order bank for '06 models to meet customer demand, I'd say the prospect of resale value for Mustangs is quite good. Even used GTs and convertibles are selling for MSRP. New ones have been known to sell above MSRP....and the dealers still can't keep them on the lots.....even though Ford will produce somewhere around 175,000 Mustangs, ~65,000 of those will be GTs, which are pretty much sold out for the '05 model year.
For the record, I qualify for GMO discounts. I could have bought a new '04 GTO for just under $25K (today, that would have been just under $24K with the new $1K GM incentive). I didn't pull the trigger then. I could have bought an '05 GTO for about $29.3 K if I were to buy today. I didn't pull the trigger on the '05 GTO either.
I also qualified for Ford X plan. I bought my totally loaded Mustang GT for ~$25.5K. That's a big $4K+ price difference in the Mustang GT's favor.
If you could even get an '05 Mustang GT right now, mine would have stickered at around $28K. MSRP comparisons still put the Mustang GT, totally loaded (without automatic) about $4,000 less than a GTO MSRP (including the current rebate).
To me, the choice was obvious based on all the above. The GTO came in a distant 2nd in my thinking. Not that anyone thinks the same way, nor should they.